Food

Jason Morgan makes homemade wine in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, from homegrown grapes, fruit, and honey harvested from his very own bee hive, and he passes on his traditional knowledge to the world through his website. He feels that one day we might all live a simple life again, if we remember how.

Jason’s enriching Internet blog is a great read for anyone interested in wine making, beekeeping, gardening, vineyard management, culinary arts, wood working, hunting, and other methods of self-sustenance. It’s pretty clear that once Jason becomes passionate about something, he makes it happen.

Jason is the co-founder of a web development and design company that provides compelling web presences and cutting edge tools to businesses. When he’s not busy at work, he reconnects with his roots by practicing self-sustaining techniques that rely on nothing but simple tools, the earth, and hard work.

In 2001, not long after Jason started his new company, his father suffered a debilitating stroke. Jason immediately immersed himself into his father’s rehabilitation.

For physical and mental therapy, we made wine together, him showing me how he did it and encouraging me to take it to my own place. It was a pretty rough time, but . . . it brought us pretty close together. Now, I visit him weekly in a nursing home sharing the latest and slipping him the taste of the latest.

Always excited to learn more, Jason has taken a few classes, but a lot of what he’s learned has been passed on to him from his father.

Jason built his own “brew kitchen” where he prepares his wines and other fermented beverages. In his kitchen, he combines various home grown fruits, such as cherries and blackberries into a “must” that becomes the main ingredient for one of his wines.

Later, he lets the fruits ferment, before expelling the carbon dioxide and aging the wine.

Jason says that one of his greatest accomplishments is that people really enjoy his wines.

He stocks his hand crafted wine cellar with homemade beer, honey mead, apple cider and grape, cherry, blackberry, and elderberry wines, along with pickled and other canned vegetables from his garden. During the long mid-west winters, he’s able to enjoy the fruits and vegetables of his labor, all winter long.

Jason is passionate about keeping the Morgan family traditions alive, and he continues that tradition by sharing his knowledge and experience with the public.

Like most forms of art, and trades, even the most naive can approach it. They simply have to embrace the fact that they don’t know it all, and have a desire to learn through listening, personal experience and a drive to invent something new. My biggest offering to the world is my personal blog and website.

An important key to any home brewer, wine maker, or cook is keeping a meticulous journal of their deeds. The idea is that if you make something that’s a huge hit, you need to be able to recreate it, or if it’s close to something special, you can tweak it until you’ve reached perfection. There is some chemistry involved in wine making, and it’s tricky to get the pH balance just right during the second fermentation. Jason keeps his own extensive logs.

I’m inspired by the pioneers who have pushed wine making, beekeeping and other trades to the limits, therefore creating knowledge to be shared by all. Examples include the science and physiology of bees, the art of balancing acidity in wine and the simple tools our ancestors used to create big, meaningful things. All this stuff is in books, the internet and maybe one day, instilled back in offspring.

Cleaning a barrel the thorough way. Each piece was numbered, scraped and a thin film of beewax applied between each barrel stave before being re-assembled.

I’ve been following Jason’s posts for awhile, and I am quite envious of how he gets everything done, despite a busy work schedule.

One of our family goals is to have a garden and raise our own honey bees. Jason truly inspires me with the passion that he demonstrates through his writing, photos, and videos on his website.

I think bringing light to a lot of things that have been forgotten is almost essential, if not only to keep our kids in check and remind them that life is not handed to you on a platter. When you go through the years in your life and don’t have anything to show for it, that’s where people stray, always looking for the next thrill but can’t find it. If only they looked right under their nose and pursued something worth pursuing.

Jason Morgan’s informative blog about wine making, beekeeping, gardening, and other self-sustaining arts can be found on the web at AllMorgan.com. He also posts a lot of updates and great photos on Facebook so go friend him, and then get started on something that you’re passionate about. I’m going to go get myself invited over to Jason’s house for a glass of wine and a look at his bees. Let me know if you learn anything new or how your recipes turn out.

Grateful Grahams bakes homemade, soft and chewy, graham crackers from hand selected all natural, vegan ingredients. Grateful Grahams can be found at local festivals and a few local retail stores in the Cincinnati, Ohio and tri-county area.

Rachel DesRochers previously worked in marketing for a nationwide whole foods retail chain, but recently became a stay at home mom and part time doula. She was looking for ways to bring in extra income, but it had to be something that she enjoyed doing and felt good about. Rachel feels blessed every day, and she wanted to contribute something back to the world.

Rachel loves to bake, and she felt that providing a wholesome, nutritious snack that is friendly to the environment would be the perfect way to give back.

Rachel developed a vegan graham cracker snack in two wonderful flavors. The Chocolate Grahams are soft and chewy with a rich cocoa taste. The Cinnamon and Sugar Grahams are also soft and chewy, with a wholesome ginger and cinnamon flavor. Both are lightly sprinkled with raw sugar. They’re perfect for making s’mores, with vegan marshmallow spread, or for dipping in soy milk.

Rachel premiered her snacks at the Cincinnati Earth Day 2010 festival, selling out quickly. Once they opened the bag to try them, they kept coming back for more.

She also appeared at local festivals like the Wyoming Art Show, one of the area’s premiere showcases for art.

Rachel is still attending local festivals all summer long, so if you see her there, I recommend buying one bag of each flavor, trying them out, and then going back to buy more of your favorite. Also, she won’t mind if you eat them right in front of her.

Visit GratefulGrahams.com or friend Grateful Grahams on Facebook to see what local festival she’ll be at next, or to be notified about the growing number of stores where you can find her vegan graham squares.

I love the Chocolate Grahams, and I figured out that if I hid them from the kids, I could eat a few after each meal and they’d last all day. Let me know about your experience with Grateful Grahams.

The Yankee Doodle Deli makes handmade gourmet pretzels in three unique and distinct flavors, using only the finest local ingredients. Zels can be found in many local retail shops in the Covington, Kentucky, and tri-county area.

It all started when Marilyn Baker went out to pick up a movie, and came back with a dog. Marilyn named the dog “Yankee Doodle”, inspired by the name of the film (“Damn Yankees”), which she had intended to buy on that eventful trip.

Years later, in 2004, Marilyn’s companion, Yankee Doodle, sadly died. To help her cope with the loss, Marilyn put her energy into cooking, a lifelong passion.

A speech pathologist at a rehabilitation center, Marilyn prepared food for her coworkers. Out of the items that she baked, one thing became a clear hit–her gourmet spicy pretzels.

With the prize being an entire bucket of the gourmet pretzels, Marilyn had a naming contest for the snack, and the name Zels was born.

With the help of friends, family, and coworkers, she developed two more flavors.

The three mouth-watering varieties are the original Spi-Zels (mildy spicy, tangy, and salty), Honey Gla-Zels (sweet and salty with a hint of peppery spice), and Cinna-Zels (sweet and salty cinnamon).

Zels gourmet pretzels can be found in local retail and hospital gift shops.

Visit YankeeDoodleDeli.com for a list of retail stores where you can find Zels and to order online. You can also friend the Yankee Doodle Deli on Facebook.

I love the Spi-Zels, but my kids prefer the Gla-Zels. Let me know which one is your favorite.

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